#wjfdn

[kidzboppizza]

Any of the Vezina nominees this year are welcome to win my trophy whether they win or not.

[mentorcapitalnetwork]

2013 Entrepreneur Stories: Ellie Fun Day

Today we're hearing from Sarah Lin, Co-Founder and Chief Blankie Crafter, of Ellie Fun Day. Ellie Fun Day is a business committed to working with women artisans in India to create organic baby blankets.

What is your role in the business?

I am the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer

Is Ellie Fun Day in business?

Yes, we started in March of 2012.

Where are you located?

We are located in San Jose but our artisans are in India.

How many people do you employ?

Right now it's two people: my husband and myself.

Who are you customers?

Our customers are two main groups. The first group is mothers between 29-40 with small children who are socially and environmentally conscious consumers. Our second type of customers are family and friends of a family with a newborn. All of these people are looking to make more sustainable consumer choices. They are also willing to pay the premium of exceptional quality and environmental and social benefits the blanket helps create.

What problem are you trying to solve?

I think that, simply put, we’re trying to solve the problem of lack of fair wages for marginalized women in India. We are working to empower these women who don’t have another opportunity to leverage themselves out of poverty.

How did you become interested in this problem?

Three years ago my husband and I went to India and worked with a mission dedicated to empowering and creating opportunities for the untouchables. It was there when I saw that the only way to empower and help them improve their lives was through creating a way for them to earn a fair wage. On top of realizing this I saw the need to create self sustainability through a business or livelihood rather than a band aid approach.  

I have also been a designer in the field for a long time and so after my time in India I saw that there was an opportunity to have design be a form of empowerment. I saw a number of NGOs that were producing handicrafts but that they weren’t at a level that was ready for the US market. So began thinking about how to bring the work I saw to a US market. Using my marketing and design skills I went to work on Ellie Fun Day to cater to a global market and help really create change and empower our women artisans to become sustainable.

What do you see as the solution to the problem?

I see the work being done with Ellie Fun Day as a way to provide a particular group of talented and hardworking women with a safe and positive work environment. Through their work they earn a livable fare wage. I also see our model as having the potential to incorporate other sewing centers in the area as we scale.

What are your major challenges?

Our biggest challenge has been sourcing. Organic fabric is very hard to find and because we are a small manufacturer we have to compete with bigger companies who can get a better price for fabric.

Another challenge comes from the cultural differences and communication barrier. For example in the US we take for granted that everything is high quality or that we get what we’re expecting. In India that isn’t the case so we have to work with our artisans to make sure that no subpar products go out. Its really important for us to have good quality management on the ground..

How has your time with the William James Foundation helped you?

It was just incredibly valuable to get the information from the reviewers. They gave us really good feedback that we could incorporate into our business model and practices.

We are also in the process of scheduling some meetings with readers.

What other resources have you found to be helpful?

We have found very useful information from the Skoll Foundation, Stanford Social Edge and other ethical clothing networks.

You can find more information about Ellie Fun Day's work and products on their Website, Twitter or, Facebook page.

[mentorcapitalnetwork]

2013 Entrepreneur Stories: Juabar

Your role with that company

I am the CEO and I focus on business strategy, partnerships and funding.

Is Juabar in business?

Yes, we launched commercially a few weeks ago, in the first week of July at the biggest trade show in East Africa. My co-founder, Sachi DeCou, and I have been working on Juabar full time for the past year.

Leading up to our launch we co-designed our first prototype with our Tanzanian colleagues then made a few iterations of our prototypes prior to launching a 9-month pilot to test the business case of the product for our end users/operators.

How many people does Juabar employ.

We currently have five employees. This includes myself, my two co-founders and two partners on the ground in Tanzania.

Where is Juabar based?

Juabar is based both in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and in Oakland, California. My co-founders and I split our time evenly between the two places and our operations are primarily in Tanzania.

Who are your customers?

Our customers are business-minded individuals in Tanzania. The ideal customer is a community leader, organization or someone who has multiple income streams and can understand how to optimize Juabar as business opportunity and community resource.

What is the problem you are trying to solve?

Providing a reliable and consistent energy source to charge devices, like mobile phones, and save individuals time and money using other options. Right now people are spending money and time traveling to a charging location, we come in to provide a local alternative. We are also working in the economic development sphere on a broader level as we are providing energy access as a service for a business-minded individual. As a franchisee, we want to make it easy for these individuals to continue to grow their business.

How did you become interested in this problem?

I was involved in development work in Mozambique early in my career and had an opportunity to go back to Africa during the summer of 2011 as part of my MBA. My colleagues and I went to Tanzania to research solar energy and better understand the energy energy experience of Tanzanians at different socio-economic levels. This trip reinvigorated my interested in working in Africa. After I completed my MBA we had an opportunity to prototype the concept we developed from our research, which was the early idea of a Juabar charging kiosk, and just never stopped. Juabar is centered in Tanzania because of our networks, both professional and personal, as well as the favorable conditions of promoting solar energy adoption in that market.

What is your solution to the problem?

Our solution is an electrified pop-up charging kiosk and service distribution point designed to be run as a local business. As a product it is a charging and connectivity hub for off-grid communities, as a service it provides reliable local charging and energy access and as a business it is a leased franchise that sells not only the service of charging but other products as a distribution hub.

What are your major challenges?

On the ground our main challenges is not having a firm grasp of Swahili. When using a translator, on the spot communication is a bit difficult and some things get lost in translation. We are learning the language, but unfortunately there’s no way to just enter a chip into our brains. Also, we are hopeful that we can use local manufacturing for our kiosks but exploring and sourcing materials is a laborious task that can be very time and resource consuming.

Has the William James Foundation helped you?

The WIlliam James Foundation has been really helpful with the feedback. I don't think we realized in the first round how thoughtful and high quality the reviewers would be and we were blown away by the extent of the feedback. After reviewing our first round feedback we really stepped up our game for the second round and cleaned up our business plan to represent it as best as we could. The plan competition also acted as a timestamp to show where we were and how far we've come in our company’s evolution.

The competition has been the best review process that we've been apart of because of the quality and accessibility of reviewers, who have been generous enough to provide contact information for further follow up.

What other resources have you found that are particularly useful for social entrepreneurs?

Since we won the Stiefel Family Foundation prize I'm excited about the pro-bono consulting services we will be receiving. As we recently pivoted our business model, its will be nice to access consultants who specialize in sales, financing and business plan development.

For readers who want to know more about what you're up to, where can we send them?

Website - www.juabar.com,

twitter - @JuabarDesign,

Instagram - @juabar,

and facebook - www.fb.com/JuabarDesign